Ever since I saw this painting in the National Gallery, London, I have been wanting to paint it. It is my tribute to the great artist Henri Fantin-Latour whose flower paintings are a treat to watch.

There have been Dutch and Flemish old masters whose floral paintings too, adorn museums around the world. Van Huysum, Heade and Jan Bruguel are some of the famous old masters who created realistic paintings of flowers and were patronised by the high and mighty of their times. The vases with flowers of various seasons combined together on mostly marble table tops are the highlight of their paintings.

My personal liking is for Fantin’s paintings. The compositions, lighting and realism are all eye catching.

A Basket of Roses has pink, red, yellow, white and peach roses, all put together in a basket in an attractive manner. The roses toppled over on the table create a flow in the painting. While painting, I realised how many leaves were there along with the roses.

Happy viewing!